Brutus Hot Dogs

 

 

This is Brutus Hot Dogs in Torrington

 

 

It is the coolest place. Brutus is named after his friend's Dachshund.

 

 

The walls are all ketchup red and mustard yellow.

 

 

The owner uses Hummel Hot Dogs and has a delicious menu of specialty dogs. Like the Boston, which has baked beans on it. You can also invent your own dog with a long list of individual toppings.



Rose Orchards Ice Cream

We live so close to Rose Orchards Farm, I don't know why we have never been before. But it is sooooo hot we must have ice cream!!! Plus the kids wanted to see the farm animals.
They have pies and fresh veggies in addition to the ice cream. You can even order a piece of pie with ice cream. mmmmm yummy .

There is a waterwheel.

This guy was so friendly. He kept following us around as we were walking. Maybe he wanted some ice cream too.

If you are in Branford, don't miss out!! The ice cream is good and I bet the fresh pie is even better. Next time I'm getting a peanut butter and hot fudge sundae.

Yale Peabody Museum

Today we went to the Peabody Museum in New Haven. WOW!! It was really cool. They have stuff for all age groups, so everyone in your family will have fun. Isn't this entrance just gorgeous! I couldn't get the entire height of the building in the photograph. Make sure you look up at it.

This is going to be a long post, but there are lots of photos. There was just so much fun, cool stuff to see and I want to share as much as I can with you. I won't ruin all the surprises though, I know you will have loads of fun exploring for yourself.

You will be greeted by this giant triceratops outside. My sons, of course wanted to try and climb up on top.

When you go in the front entrance look up...you will see this monster squid. Acutually, make sure you walk through the entire museum slowly and look everywhere. There are lots of treasures to see hanging from the ceiling and in every nook and cranny.

This was flying high above our heads!

The dinosaurs and prehistoric section was one of the kids' favorites.

They thought this giant tortoise was awesome.

Learning about dinosaurs. There were cool interactive programs all over the museum.

This bony dude is a Ground Sloth. If the picture will enlarge, you can see some patches on his back that still have some hair on them. The way he walks on his knuckles looks funny.

Okay, this guy is so tall. Thank goodness they are extinct!! Scary! And he's not even a carnivore.

This interactive globe had buttons you could press and it would light up the areas you were learning about.

There was an entire room for the kids with lots of hands on activites. These are poisonous dart frogs. There were lots of different colored ones in the exhibit. There was also a huge ant farm with tunnels going all around the room. There must have been millions of Ants in there.

The butterflies were one of my favorites.

Then we got to the minerals. These amethysts are unbelievable. These were a favorite of my kids.

They had most gems imaginable including a huge collection of diamonds, and these opals. I love opals, and these looked like they were glowing with fire inside each stone.
More opals. They are breathtaking!! Oh so beautiful.

Petrified wood.

This is Malachite, awesome green swirls. This one is from Cheshire, CT which is just up the street from us.
There is even an Egyptian section. Lots of cool stuff here. They even had a real mummy.

I like this Dodo bird. He looks prehistoric and it's hard to believe they lived until recently, relatively speaking.

There is an entire section of meteorites. This one is huge. Can you imagine this coming down near your house? It must be worth a fortune. They also have the first reported meteorite in North America. It came down in Weston, CT back in the 1800's.

Happily examining his gift shop buys. He got an excavating kit complete with stones hidden in a large clay tablet. We also got some geodes, I can't wait to get home so we can crack them open. Hopefully they have some treasures inside!

Visit their site here.

Admission and Hours

Monday - Saturday-10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday-noon to 5 p.m.

Admission Fees
$7.00 Adults
$6.00 Senior citizens 65 years and over
$5.00 Children ages 3 through 18College students with ID
$3.00 Group admission You have to call ahead for this, at least 2 days in advance.

The museum offers free individual admission on Thursday afternoons from 2:00 to 5:00 pm during the months of September to June. Groups of 8 or more require advance reservations.

North Guilford Fun

This is Lake Quonnipaug in North Guilford. Oh the fun we've had here swimming and playing. North Guilford is absolutely beautiful, as is much of Connecticut. There are no motor boats allowed on this lake, but it is serene and a perfect quiet retreat. You can kayak or canoe to your hearts content.

We have had so much fun this week. The kids love it. They can spend all their time out on the docks, and there is a public beach right on the other side of the lake.
Here is a great photo of the gorgeous sky.

My youngest son "surfing"

There is a lot of wildlife here. Ducks swim right up to us while we're playing. There are also swans, hawks, cormorants, herons, turtles, geese... There is a lot of great fishing here. Bass and Trout.

If you get tired of playing at the lake, you can take a drive or a walk around the gorgeous countryside. There is a lot of farmland. There are spacious fields and many beautiful antique homes.

This house, also on the lake had a pretty cottage garden and picket fence. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

This is the back of the North Guilford Fire Station. It is right in the middle of a farm. I took this from the other side of the farm across a field.

This is the end of Lake Quonnipaug. I love all of the water lilies. There is usually a family of swans swimming around this area, but they weren't here when I took the pictures.

I love these lilies. If you come to visit North Guilford, there is a farmer's market in North Guilford on Saturday mornings from 9am-noon at Dudley's Farm on Rt 77.

Haddam Meadows

Today we went to the Haddam Meadows State Park. There is a boat launch that was pretty crowded. There was lots of parking though.

The day was absolutely gorgeous. The park has huge fields for playing any kind of game you like. There are plenty of picnic tables, and everything is spread out so you can have some privacy if you want it. There were lots of boats in the water. Only a few jet skis.


There are lots of little private beaches.

Can you imagine how nice it would be to live here and have gorgeous views of the Connecticut River?

For more info about

Haddam Meadows State Park